Depicting the machinations of filmmaking

With so much raw material all around them, directors can’t resist the temptation to depict the machinations of filmmaking—both on the set and in studio executive suites. The result is often great entertainment.

Photo Essays

On-set photography is a long-standing tradition that captures a director at work. These Photo Essays reveal in images the careers of some of our most prominent members or showcase our members working in a particular genre, time or location.

With so much raw material all around them, directors can’t resist the temptation to depict the machinations of filmmaking—both on the set and in studio executive suites. The result is often great entertainment.

Influenced by German Expressionism and Old World ennui, Hollywood directors—many of them European émigrés—created the look and feel of film noir to express the fears and desperation of postwar America. It’s a genre that never dies—though its heroes often do.

Coming of age is a subject that never gets old. From sexual awakening to peer pressure to work responsibilities, it’s an endless source of material. In a collection of rare set shots, we see how generations of directors have handled it.

With 476 films released, and many of them classics, 1939 is often considered the pinnacle of Hollywood filmmaking. To celebrate that year’s 75th anniversary, we look back at directors creating some of the high points—from Mounument Valley to Kansas.

With the built-in drama of competition, it’s no wonder directors have long been attracted to the world of sports. In a collection of shots, here are some of the triumphs—real and fictional—they’ve captured on film.

Howard Hawks, one of the founders of the Guild, had a long and varied career ranging from pioneering aerial films to screwball comedies and rugged Westerns. A collection of vintage shots shows him creating Hollywood history.

Starting with the silent era to modern CGI, space travel and aliens have always been a new frontier for directors to explore. As these behind-the-scenes shots show, the only limitation is the filmmaker’s imagination.

Elia Kazan called himself a "desperate beast" in his quest to get the deepest emotions out of his cast. And in an extraordinary career that revolutionized screen acting, he usually got what he was looking for.

Directors do love Los Angeles, and frequently use it as a backdrop-and even character-in their movies. We assembled a collection of behind the scenes shots of filmmakers at work on locations all over the City of Angels.

Underdogs, families in trouble, and men at war inspired John Ford to create movies of grandeur, grace, and, yes, beauty. Here he is capturing the inherent decency of people in flims from his unparalleled body of work.

With psychologically acute and philosophically challenging films, Ingmar Bergman helped the art-house picture. In The Ingmar Bergman Archives, we glimpse the director creating his remarkable body of work.